Month: May 2015

Rachel Collinson from Newham Green Party says yes, we should.

Many broadcasters portrayed last week’s win for the Conservative Party as a decisive victory. However, the hidden truth is that David Cameron kept his place in Number 10 because of only 1,384 votes.

Yes, really. That’s all it took.

That number is the difference in votes in the 6 closest races for MP. For example, in constituencies like Gower, Conservative candidate Byron Davies beat Labour by 37 votes.

As if that weren’t bad enough, consider that it took 25,972 votes to elect one SNP candidate, whereas it took nearly four million votes to elect a UKIP MP.

This happens because we use a voting system called First Past the Post (FPTP) to elect MPs to Westminster. FPTP is only used by a handful of countries, most of them former British colonies and tiny islands. It only works properly when there are two parties to choose from.

We do, however, use another voting system in the UK – the Additional Member System. You will be using this system when you vote for candidates for the London General Assembly next year. It’s fairer and receives far fewer complaints than our current system. It delivers stable governments that represent a greater range of views held by the public.

Our democracy thrives on debate. If politicians hear a wide range of differing opinions before they vote on an issue, they will make better decisions. For example, without Green representatives in the London Assembly, we would not have had the successful Cycle Hire Scheme (wrongly known as Boris Bikes).

Our current system only benefits those who are already powerful. We urgently need a change in our voting system to restore faith in politics, and rebuild healthy democracy.

Share this:

Rachel Collinson (prospective parliamentary candidate for West Ham) reflects on the 2015 General Election results.

I’ll give you somebody to blame.

As Labour begin the inevitable scapegoat search after a shock election defeat, I can’t help but join in.

I did, after all, once donate regularly to Labour. And, although I dislike the authoritarian, militaristic side to their more recent incarnations, they still have policies that I agree with. Getting rid of the bedroom tax, for one.

So I want to offer a perspective to my friends in Labour, as a friendly outsider, that may help in the licking of wounds and regrouping.

No beating about the (George) bush

OK; I’m going to dive straight in. Do you want somebody to blame?

Blame Ed Balls.

I can almost sense you eyeing me skeptically here. He may be unable to recall the names of any business leaders who support Labour, and he needs to avoid Twitter when tired, but really? He’s human, isn’t he?

Yes, of course. But the problem is that Balls should not have been in charge of Labour’s economic strategy.

It’s the economy, cupid

So, the British people are in love with the idea that only the Conservatives can be trusted on the economy. The press play this tune, and the electorate dance along to it.

The worst of it is, Labour dance too.

Weirdly, it was left to Caroline Lucas (and other Greens, myself included) to defend their track record on the economy from 1997 to 2010.

You may disagree with their spending priorities (as I did) but the fact is, Labour had more years with a budget surplus than the previous Tory administration. One of the first things they did in power was to prevent Government from raising interest rates to bribe the voters before an election, causing damage to the economy. And they did exactly what a Conservative administration would have done during the financial crisis of 2008 – spend hundreds of billions of pounds to prop up our financial system.

I’m not saying that this is what we should have done, but it is certainly what George Osborne would have done.

Where it all went wrong

Labour decided not to turn the tables back on Osborne, by asking the obvious questions: –

“Would you have bailed out the banks, George?”

“And where would you have got the money from for that, George?”

Instead, they appeared meekly to accept the Tory criticisms that they mismanaged the economy. Why?

Ed Balls.

Balls is a monetarist. This means he believes – along with the Conservative Party – that the best way to grow the economy is to cut public spending. It’s called expansionary fiscal contraction, and just like it sounds, it is a contradiction in terms.

This mistake allowed Cameron and Co to pitch the battle on their own, familiar turf, and – gasp – they won.

What should Labour have done?

Labour should have done exactly what the SNP did. They should have shown that cutting public spending during a recession is like quitting your job so you can pay off your student loan.

They should have pointed to Germany and the US, economic powerhouses both, who did not adopt the deep cut strategy.

They should never have chosen Ed Balls.

What to do now?

The people of the UK – and even UK politicians – are garishly naïve about economics. Yes, even rank-and-file Tories.

Take, for example, a prospective parliamentary candidate speaking at a hustings, to whom I had to explain the difference between deficit and debt. Of course, for Conservatives, it’s convenient to be economically illiterate, because they will pursue an agenda of small government regardless.

But for the left, we need to be smart. We need to find simple frames to explain how the economy works, and what drives it.

For me, that will be a direct appeal to small business owners, farmers and freelancers. A recognition that they create most of our jobs. A recognition that they are the real wealth creators. A recognition that they are suffering terribly because of subsidies, tax reductions and a liberal approach to the rule-breaking of large corporations.

Small will be beautiful

Here’s one of the many things I love about the Green Party. Our pledges for small business:

Abolishing employers’ National Insurance contributions, because they are, essentially, a tax on jobs

One rate of corporation tax for small businesses, a higher rate for large ones, as they benefit from economies of scale

An abolition of VAT on tourism businesses such as hotels and restaurants

Support for farmers through subsidies for healthy, fresh produce such as fruit and vegetables

To fight hard in the EU for reform of the Common Agricultural and Fisheries Policies that have affected our smaller farming and fishing businesses so unfairly

Stronger penalties for late invoice payment

A commitment to net neutrality

An end to the unfair and discriminatory policy of chasing small businesses for unpaid tax while turning a blind eye to large corporations’ failure to pay

Mandating BT to bring super-fast broadband to everybody

An end to workfare schemes that essentially provide free labour to large corporations

An increase in small business rate relief.

To see how these policies work in practice, just take a look at Brighton. A booming economy, superfast broadband for Brighton businesses, thousands more visitors every year, and Caroline Lucas gaining the title of the FSB’s Small Business Champion.

We need to start shouting loud and clear about these smart policies. For these are what will drive Britain’s recovery.

Although many have woken up today being dismayed about the prospect of another 5 years of the Conservatives – the progressive SNP gains in Scotland, the re-election of Caroline Lucas and an approximate 400% increase in Green votes across the country (think of all that Short Money!) indicates the progressive left are growing force to to reckoned with!

To quote Rachel Collinson; “today is the start of the REAL campaign for a better Newham”

To quote Tamsin Omond; “this is the beginning of our fight. Progressive politics will win”

Firstly, thank you all.

To our Green Party members who have grown five-fold in the past year. To our supporters who have helped us through being active volunteering, words of encouragement, hugs and copious cups of tea along the way. And to everyone who voted Green yesterday – our gains echo the Green Surge across the voting electoral – and we are so very grateful for each and every one of them.

Stratford and New Town By-Election (14%)

Isabelle Anderson secured 1,170 votes: 14% of the voting electorate. Coming in 3rd, in a ward where Newham Greens had not previously been active in prior to 2015 is incredible. Congratulations Isabelle! You did us proud.

West Ham (5%)

Rachel Collinson secured 2,651 votes: 5% of the voting electorate. Coming in 4th, and ensuring we retain our deposit for the first time in Newham. In 2010 we got 1.4%, so this result is a whopping 5 fold increase in votes. Congratulations Rachel! This was her inspiring speech last night:

East Ham (2.5%)

Tamsin Omond secured 1,299 votes: coming in 4th with 2.5% of the voting electorate in East Ham. In 2010 we secured 1.2% of the vote, so we have doubled our votes. Watch Tamsin’s passionate speech after the declaration: